Sam shook his head at Sin's question. This wasn't the first time he'd had someone forget to pay attention. No, scratch that. Sin HAD been paying attention - just to Maja, rather than the entire mission briefing.

"We're headin' out to the Scrin tower. Gotta make sure Gideon doesn't activate its portal, or else..." Sam paused for a bit, partly to let his message sink in, but mostly because of the memories that came flooding back. "Or else the Scrin come back, and it's the second half of Tib War III all over again." As Sam continued walking, Seamus sighed.

"I see he's still haunted over Bern. Can't really say I blame him." Bern, the former capitol of what had once been called Switzerland, had been one of several cities completely blasted off the face of the Earth by the Scrin - joining the ranks of Munich, Sydney, and Val'Raveran. "Though he's certainly handling it better then most people would."

"You know Sam." Vanara added, making sure her own sonic grenade launcher was fully loaded. "Not the kind to let his feelings interfere with a mission. He probably hates the Scrin even more than Carl there hates Nod. Can't say I blame him. Not after what they did to his brother." Some of the soldiers exchanged worried looks, before one turned to Vanara.

"I just have to ask, Captain." the private, this one a young human male, began. "What could the Scrin have done that was worse than usual?" Now it was Vanara's turn to sigh. The green-haired Drowolath woman faced the human soldier, the look in her eyes as icy as the void between galaxies.

"It was just after Bern had been destroyed. Our old unit, the 597th Mechanized Infantry, was going through the ruins looking for survivors. Unfortunately, we found some. Turns out, one of the Scrin cults, Traveler-59, had just been there. Everyone who still lived had been implanted with their cranial parasites, but the aliens had had to leave before the process could be finished, meaning that the process of turning them into Cultists hadn't been completed. Most of them just sat, staring off into nothing and babbling nonsense. Maybe their original selves were struggling against the Cultist personalities. Anyway, we'd found all the survivors..."

"And my brother, Daniel..." Sam began, finishing the story. "Was one of them." Sam paused, before speaking again. "The Scrin noticed that he was a mutant like me, and thought that the presence of Tiberium in his body would make the implantation process easier. Unfortunately, they were only half-right. While the parasite had attached itself to him, the Tiberium in his brain cells made his mental blocks tougher to crack. So, he still remained cognizant of his surroundings. When we finally got to him, it only took me a split-second to realize who he was. And he saw me. He starts walking towards me, unsteady. When he finally reached me, he collapsed, crying." Sam sighed. "So, Danny just looks at me, still crying. He pulls me down, and whispers just two words into my ear. He says 'I'm sorry'. Then he reaches for my gun holster, and grabs one of my laser pistols. Before I can do anything, he sticks it in his mouth... and fires."

"And... and that's why you hate the Scrin so much?" the private asked.

Shynt mange to hear Sam talking the tragic fate of his bother before he went the door. He also has a deep hatred for the Scrin. Some of his friends and family members have been transformed into those twisted monsters that use a sort of empathy to torture and kill their victims.

When he arrived to the assigned hanger he saw a Hammerhead gunship and a V-35, both look like been heavily modified. Right next them were the pilots and copilots of those aircraft, 2 tropes with suppressed carbines and commando armed with a anti-material rifle. The sniper looked towards Shynt then removed his helmet, revealing a meal human with short dark hair hazel eyes and a scar across his nose. "Well isn't it my favorite, politically correct, green haired knife ear, sniper!" He then made a smirk on his face." How you doing Shynt?"

It was Joey Alberto. A Italian/Irish American that got the name "Juster" because of his politically incorrect and dark sense of humor. Shynt used to get in to fights with him when he began working GDI. Luckily Shynt became friends with him over time. Although Shynt still cringe at most of his jokes.

" I didn't know you were at the this base Joey. Your in charge of the sniper team?" "Yeah, it seems McNeil convinced me to participate in this him and recon because my leadership skills. Then again he could've been send me out to the tower because that Irish jokes I made."Shynt written eyebrow. " Do you have Irish heritage?""Yeah but I was making a joke." Shynt rolled his eyes. " It didn't seem to be a funny one. Where is our insertion point?" "We'll be dropped off at a old factory thats about a klick form the tower. Hopeful the cloaking devices on these 2 birds will keep the Nod form spotting us. Makes me all warmer and fuzzy to use their tech against them."

Joey then turned to the rest of the team." All right guys , we got to going before the marching band starts moving out. Lets move."

Carl would listen to the story of Sam's brother. His face was hidden behind his helmet's facemask but he walked over to his mutant comrade and put his hand on Sam's shoulder, gripping a bit before he'd head out, catching Shynt at the transports. "Good hunting out there." He'd give Shynt a thumbs up before heading for the transports the main force would be using. Saying to no one in particular as he walked, "What the bloody hell is wrong with me? I've got no reason to hate Nod, not like how Sam does. I grew up in Luxury, no family killed by Nod, the closest I can claim is a chef killed while he was visiting family in a yellow zone, and being a just close enough to a suicide bomber to be trapped under some rubble. I wasn't even seriously injured, a few scratches and dust in my eyes. Yet I hate them as if Kane himself stabbed each and every person I loved right in front of me." He'd shake his head, a movement made almost invisible by the helmet. "Yet I see no reason to stop."

"Oh, I know that Sam, I was paying attention you know." Sin pouted "I meant where are we going from this room, I need to get my stuff, I'm not exactly dressed for combat, but it'll only take a bit."

Sin listened as Sam, Seamus and Varana chatted, and wondered if maybe this mission wasn't a bad idea. Still, it was good to be out of the lab and all. She gently patted Sam's shoulder as she passed him to get dressed and head to her assigned transport.

"Oh. Uh, sorry about that." Sam said. Turning to his power-armor's wrist-mounted computer screen, he pulled up a detailed schematic of the base, with instructions for which soldiers were to go which transport hangar. "Sniper teams are to board the Hammerhead gunships in Hangar Bay 1, while all other soldiers are to head to the Ox Transports in Hangar Bay 2." Sam blinked. That was an odd decision. "The aircraft have also been fitted with..." Sam paused, making sure he was reading this right. "Reverse-engineered Nod cloaking devices. Looks like we're not taking any chances when it comes to catching Gideon off-guard." Sam looked at the time again. The attack would begin in twelve minutes.

Joey waved his hand forward as he moved towards the modified Hammerhead "That means the 4 of us are leaving in 2!"

The 2 pilots were already in the cockpit, strapping into their seats and starting up the little gunship. The sniper team set on the outside seats and waited for there suits to connect to the safety magnets. A good feature to have when writing outside on a aircraft in a place like the red zone.

As the craft lift off hovered towards the lift, Shynt was surprised that the "stealth Ox" was not following them. "Hay Joey. Why is that V-35 staying at the base?"" I don't know. The commander might for another mission or something."

Carl would be ambling about outside the transport till both Sam and Sin showed up. He'd climb onboard and place himself firmly in a seat, pulling the restraint harness down and 'buckling up'. He'd sigh, "So we're really working with Nod on this one? I know it's for the greater good and all...but still. Leaves a foul taste in the mouth." He'd stare ahead as he waited for liftoff, "EVA? Do you have connection to the Civilian Networks?" Connection is poor, but stable."See if you can bring up the Stock Exchange, please."Working. Carl's eyes would dot across the screen as numbers and letters started scrawling all over his HUD. "My Portfolio please."Working. Carl would smile under his helmet, there'd be some whispers amongst some of the other soldiers, "Is this guy really checking his stocks right before a mission?""Well, looks like I made a killing last night. Let's hope it's gonna be the same for this mission!" He would say aloud, hoping to psych up the others on the ship.

Sin went and quickly got dressed into her usual GDI outfit, which wasn't modified very much really, a bit more flexible, and space for a nice sword. Even in this world of guns and flying bombs etc, combat felt weird without a sword strapped to her somewhere, and a couple of small daggers just in case. After all you never really knew what life would throw at you. It was exactly because of that concept that she also took some nether summoning stones, just in case you know?

She took a seat on the transport opposite Carl and heard him speak. "A killing would be nice, I'm hoping I've got a dinner date to get to and I'd rather not be late for that :)"

Sam shook his head and chuckled at Carl's means of motivating the troops. It reminded him of a documentary on the First Crusade he'd watched, where the French commander's battle cry had been "Today, if God's willing, we'll all be rich!". He turned to face Sin, who he noticed had brought a sword along with her GD-10 rifle. He thought that that was a bit odd, until he remembered that there were those in the 597th who had made use of even weirder weapons - if one was willing to stretch the definition of "weapon" a bit. He remembered Lebowski and Sobchak, and their bizarre obsession with bowling, and had - for some inexplicable reason - brought their bowling balls with them on every mission they went on in Tib War III. Of course, they had proven themselves more than proficient in the use of the bowling ball as a weapon when they managed to bludgeon a Scrin Ravager to death with them. Sam decided now was time to check his weapons again, just to be sure. Some may have called this mild paranoia, while others would have said he was obsessive-compulsive, but the truth was that it was just a habit he'd picked up in the last war.

"You okay?" Vanara asked, noticing that he'd been a bit tense ever since boarding the aircraft.

"Yeah. Just hope we're not too late." Sam said, finally strapping himself in. Without warning, the speakers came to life.

"One more thing." McNeil began, his voice echoing throughout the plane's passenger bay. "Your EVA units have been provided with Tacitus-derived translation software, just in case you run into anything written by the Scrin. Should make the aliens' language a hell of a lot easier to read."

Well, that simplifies things. Sam thought, as he felt the aircraft begin to take off. This is it. Our one chance to stop some madman from causing his own form of Armageddon.

The hammerhead was getting close to its destination. Even though the cloaking device was working pretty well, the two snipers felt uneasy. Joey spoke on his mic.

"Hay greenny!Did you ever heard of the phrase "calm before the storm" ? " "Yes I have." Shynt replied only looked at the Scrin appearing from the horizon."And I have full understanding of what it means."

It took less than a minute for the aircraft to land near the old factory and drop off the sniper team. It reengaged it's cloaking device, then flew off."Ok, set up the traps and let's get ourselves into position. Do not engage the enemy till the mane force gets close to this place."

Car's HUD would close the window it had open and he saw that Sin was sitting across from him in a jump seat, his eye was drawn to her sword. "Do you really think you'll be using that on our battlefields..." he trailed off, "Actually, bloody hell that might be a viable weapon if you can get close enough. Most of our armor is made to resist bullets or dissipate energy blasts. Might have to get me one." He'd chuckle, "It's the slow knife that penetrates the shield." quoting from a book. He'd look to the corner of his HUD as the announcement came over about the Scrin translator. "That should come in handy, as long as it can tell the difference between 'bathroom' and 'suicide booth'."

"Didn't think you were a fan of Dune, Carl. Don't worry, we shouldn't run into any sandworms out there." Sam chuckled. His laughter stopped, however, when he saw the Scrin tower show up his HUD. Even here, still minutes away, that alien construct gave him chills. And yet, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't look away. Thankfully, a message over the intercom caught his attention.

"We have confirmation that the Sniper Team has landed, and has garrisoned an abandoned factory near the Scrin tower. The other scouts have entered the tower itself. Our own ETA at the tower is five minutes." the pilot said.

This is it. Sam thought. Our one shot, and our one shot alone at stopping Armageddon.

Once the team got inside the factory, the troopers set up some traps and guarded the the door they went through. The two snipers set up near a window when they heard that that more scouts have entered towered. " Well that explains V-35. But who the hell would be suicidal enough to go striate to the tower?"After a moment Shynt spoke."I think I got a good idea who up there."

It did take long for Joey to spot a column of Flame tanks being refueled. " Well well well. Look like some one forgot build roof over their gas station." He put the ammunition settings on his rifle to armor piercing incendiary. "Once the our guys get close to the base I'm going to give the Nods a bit of a fire works display.""All right Ill keep the enemy snipers and AT gunner away from our guys."

"It's...complicated. It's from a book, to sum it up they have energy shields they use in duels that repel fast moving objects, bullets, swords, the like." he drew his combat knife to try and illustrate the point, making a quick stab and recoil motion with the blade, "But the slow knife can slip through the shield," he slowly moved the knife towards a non existent target, then a quick plunge, "and give you the coup de grâce. Hopefully what we're about to do, but more subtle." He withdrew the knife and sheathed it, "Interesting read, sort of a cross between Feudalism with high tech weaponry. I can loan you a copy of the first one if you want." He turned to Sam, "I'm full of surprises, though I never did get past the first couple chapters of Emperor. Such a shame, with the amount of noise we're about to make it'd be an interesting addition to combat." Carl would check his weapons one final time, tapping the live disk grenades he had on his hip.